Before undertaking practice and training, evaluate your goals. The goal is not necessarily to put bullets into the threat but to survive. If cover accomplishes this but you do not connect with the adversary, well, you have won your battle. If you do not get to cover or return fire quickly your battle is over. If you are standing beside cover and being fired upon it makes more sense to jump for cover and be safe than to draw against a drawn pistol. Remember, when moving for cover the best bet is to move and then draw.

Movement and the draw conflict. If you are going to draw, don't move at the same time or you will be slowed. The same for diving for cover. Dive and draw! Movement that does not conflict should be practiced and will only be learned in dynamic practical training.

When using cover, remember that you can be outflanked. This is particularly true if you are facing a gang. Square buildings and homes may be flanked and fences may be scaled. All cover is not equal. A brick wall is more resistant to small arms fire than sheet rock. If you are behind the common automobile you are safe from most small arms fire. But if the adversary moves behind, you are in a vulnerable position. Keep your eyes open and your peripheral vision engaged. Ricochet is also a common source of wounds. I have been wounded by a ricochet that proved painful but was not debilitating. On another occasion a ricochet off a vehicle produced a slight cut I hesitate to call a wound, but it was startling at the time. During the Indian Wars in our western states, soldiers learned to bounce slow moving bullets off rocks and peace officers know that bullets fired under vehicles may bounce into felons on the other side. The vehicle's tires and wheels are the best cover. If you take a car as cover the interior is not bullet safe. I prefer two doors to be safe but the steel wheels are the best cover. Full power 9mm ammunition, the most common thug caliber, is capable of penetrating most vehicle doors. (I have to note that the LAPD SWAT team has used the tactic of firing under vehicles and skipping bullets to take down dangerous criminals.)

Angles are helpful in using cover. If a bullet enters the car door or takes on the quarter panel dead on it is more likely to penetrate than a bullet that is fired at an angle. If you are firing around the vehicle at an angle, then return fire just may be forced to tune to that angle as well and be much less effective. If possible stay away from body contact with the cover you have taken. Move back if possible. This lessens the chances of a wound from a bullet that has penetrated cover. The bullet will often be deflected either straight up or down, and if you are a few feet from cover – especially sheet metal– you are far less likely to be wounded. A good illustration of the advantage of visibility in cover is to simply look out a small window in your home. You have a panoramic view. On the other hand someone looking at the window has a more circumscribed view. Use this visibility to an advantage. Another tactical area to consider is that you may wish to move quickly. If you contact cover with your body or lay all over it, you may not be able to quickly shove off when needed. By standing beside cover you are protected from the adversaries' angle of fire but able to quickly shove off or retreat. By the same token, if they charge your cover they are in a very vulnerable position.

There are times when it is advantageous to fire from cover. Some adversaries will not stop until they are stopped by gunfire and others will attempt to outflank you. In these situations the ability to fire from cover is appreciated. The ability to brace the handgun on cover will be a great advantage. When you are involved in a critical incident and your hands are shaking and your pupils dilated, a handy barricade similar to the one you have practiced with on the range is a considerable survival aid. You have practiced barricade shooting on the range haven't you? If not, do so and come back and reread this feature. You may shoot over the top of cover in the case of a vehicle or around the side in the case of a wall. Over the top exposes more of the body but it depends upon the problem you have to solve. If you back up from cover and pop up quickly, the disadvantage of firing over the top is alleviated. There should be a good reason for leaving cover and an attacker stalking you is one. For over the top, support on the cover is less likely to be a good option. When firing around the side, we often are able to use cover as a support for the pistol. Some caution is needed to avoid malfunctions. If the cover is to the right of a semi automatic pistol, the spent cases are ejected to the right and will strike our cover. I have seen spent cases occasionally bounce back from the wall and into the ejection port of the pistol, jamming the pistol. This is not a common occurrence, the slide velocity of most pistols is far too rapid for this to take place but I am not the only one that has seen this freak jam. By slightly canting the pistol to the left of cover this problem is lessened. When firing off a left hand barricade with the cases ejecting away from cover, this type of malfunction is not possible. In the end, shooting over the top offers more visibility and you may be able tospot multiple opponents. But you are also more exposed. Low cover is another matter and walls seldom offer an over the top option.

The braced position can be very accurate. I have fired certain pistols with machine rest accuracy off of a solid barricade hold. Revolvers are particularly well suited to barricade use. Never rest any part of a semi automatic pistol against a barricade or you are asking for a malfunction. In homes and buildings, cover is equally important. Despite their frequent use for cover in B movies, mattresses make poor cover but rolling behind the bed and taking advantage of this cover in a home invasion scenario makes sense. The long depth of the mattress makes a form of cover unlike the top to bottom width sometimes depicted in cinematic trash as stopping bullets. Naturally, a bedpost or frame can be cover. Corners in the home offer fertile ground for cover. As an example, there are numerous home designs in which several rooms meet in one hallway. By blading yourself to a threat in one of these rooms you are practically unencumbered in movement but the threat will have but a small slice or your body to attempt to inflict damage upon.

The psychological impact of cover should be understood well. If you are attacked on the street and you take immediate cover behind a building pillar or other structure, the average street thug will retreat. I have learned that even throwing the hand in front of your face gives them pause at times. The more dangerous and dedicated type are more difficult to deter, but even light cover and concealment may daunt the rest. Take cover seriously. Be aware of the likely and near cover at all times, and think tactically. The life you save may be your own.